I will say Thanks in advance to all who reply.
I am converting the little woman's bike; 883 to 1200 and I am on a relatively tight budget. I have scored XB12 heads and cylindesr w/pistons for $280. The cylinders have less than 2500 miles and when checked with a bore gauge are spot on for roundness/taper and piston clearance. That being said I have the option of using stock pistons and just re-ringing - saving $250-350 depending on pistons I would purchase. The down side in this is that since stock pistons are cast I don't have the option to open up the valve pockets in the pistons and the stock valve pockets will limit cam selection (wanted SE-536's).
Hammer is going to do my heads - My question: Should I get the Impact (Stage I) porting and get new (stock bore) forged pistons so I can install SE-536's; or should I get the Smash (Stage II) porting and use the stock pistons and pick another cam?